


Home for the Holidays

by juxtaposedmusings



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: AU, Apathetic Betty, Composed Jughead, Eventual Smut, Ex Lovers, F/M, Minimal aspects of canon, Rekindled Flame, breakup regret
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-27
Updated: 2018-12-26
Packaged: 2019-09-28 06:06:08
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,163
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17177321
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/juxtaposedmusings/pseuds/juxtaposedmusings
Summary: The story of ex-lovers Betty Cooper and Jughead Jones rekindling feelings for one another during the holiday season. An AU.





	Home for the Holidays

**Author's Note:**

> [ K](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bugggghead/pseuds/Bugggghead) is the lifeblood of getting you all these fics in a timely holiday manner. She's great, talented, and also a really good writer...so go look at all the goodies she has to offer as well!!

 

Every breath Betty Cooper took of the crisp, late December air stung. Mostly in her lungs, as she had already lost most of the feeling in her nose and her throat was used to the onslaught of frigid temperatures the medium-sized New York town experienced at night around this time of year. Her hands were stuffed snuggly into her pockets, trying to find whatever warmth the close proximity to her body could provide.  
  
She wasn't entirely sure why she had agreed to attend this post-Christmas themed bar crawl. Why she had agreed to go out to an event where she would be in close proximity to her ex-boyfriend. The one she still hadn't really been able to shake her feelings for despite the years that had passed since their breakup. And most of all, she couldn’t place why she had accepted said ex-boyfriend's invitation for this specific event.  
  
In just one year she would be an adult, off in the world and making her own way at an entry-level job that hopefully would lead to bigger and better things as the years went on. Everything about her life was going along with the plans she had set before she ever reached adolescence.  
  
The only question she seemingly couldn't answer was: if everything was going so perfectly, _why wasn't she happy?_

Deep down, she hoped that she would get the opportunity to figure it out that night. She had her suspicions, and they both started and ended with Jughead Jones.

* * *

  
_ONE WEEK BEFORE_

 

  
  
Pursuing her goals of attending a semi-prestigious university had come at a price Betty wished she never would have paid.  
  
She was smart, ambitious, and had been involved in every possible organization she could be, but when it came down to it, she wasn't diverse enough to merit a considerable enough scholarship to foot the bill of her desired education.  
  
It only seemed normal to consult with her parents for help in creating an achievable path to her post-secondary school journey.  It wasn't as if she was strictly relying on their help to attend college, she just needed some additional assistance in order to ensure she wasn't set up for a lifetime of debt after she finished her degree.  
  
Alice Cooper's help wasn't ever free—not even for her own children. In order for Betty to get her mother to sign onto her loans, she had to agree she would hold off on dating anyone seriously until she had entered college.  
  
Initially, an easy-to-meet agreement. It wasn't as if Betty was in love with anyone when she and Alice had made the agreement around her freshman year in high school.  
  
She never intended to fall in love with Jughead Jones, but she supposed falling in love rarely went according to anyone's expectations or plans.

 

The truth was, she had never completely found a way to forget about him. Every subsequent kiss and touch she received from other lovers only served to remind her of the ways in which he had done it better once upon a time. Despite the fact that they never actually had sex, Betty could only imagine based on the level of trust the two had established between one another how it might have gone.

 

Living in a life of _what if’s_ certainly wasn’t serving her any benefits, and it was a prime reason she generally stayed fixed in her house the duration of winter break, even going back to school early the day after Christmas to prevent possible interactions with people she used to hang out with. Prevent the possibility of seeing him again; because even worse than seeing him still broken the way he was years ago, would be seeing him happy and with someone else, as terrible as that sounded.

 

* * *

 

Much to Betty’s chagrin, her plans of staying homebound were quickly destroyed by Polly’s insistence of Betty’s company as she went to the First Annual Riverdale Christmas Market in Downtown Riverdale.

If it were anyone else in the town, she would have had twenty excuses as to why she needed to remain a shut-in in her hometown; but, Polly was home so seldom in the first place that Betty wanted to do all she could to soak up what time she could find with her big sister while her mother looked after the twins.

Betty frowned as Polly fitted a Santa hat over Betty's head before they headed out the door.

 

“Don't be such a Grinch, Betty,” Polly pleaded.

 

“Is this really necessary just to go to the Christmas market? Aren't the shop owners supposed to be the seasonally appropriate ones?”

 

Perhaps Betty was being quite the killjoy of holiday spirit, but the reality was there was no way she wasn't going to run into one of her old classmates. The idea of small talk with people she hadn't bothered to keep up with over the last three years gave her a definitive level of anxiety that no hat could hide.

Even the car ride over only served to increase Betty’s building dread. The Mariah Carey Christmas album that Polly had owned since childhood was blaring throughout the vehicle. She weighed the pros and cons of asking Polly to switch to the radio but figured it could not only be far worse, but Polly could also start alluding to Betty’s growing Grinch status for the remainder of the day.

Initially, the two sisters strode side-by-side through the winter farmer’s market sort of set up in the downtown area. They sampled various cheeses and bread that were available and even purchased a cookie before a gaggle of women in Polly’s year came up to her, quickly sweeping Betty to the side.

Betty was left to wander the expanse of the crowded market alone after receiving an apologetic glance from Polly.  

She shoved her cold hands in the pockets of her coat as she moved along, feeling all too detached from the joy the holidays once brought her. Betty never pretended that Christmas would hold the same sense of wonder she found in her childhood, but she was continually relearning the growing apathy with each year that she grew older.

The sound of her name being called the first time felt distant, and the second time, she lifted her head to look around to find the source. By the third time, she finally locked eyes with the man calling out to her.  
  
"Betty Cooper?"  
  
She wasn’t entirely sure if she had disassociated so far past the Christmas Market that now she was imagining her ex-boyfriend in front of her in some cliche sort of way, but after rubbing her eyes a time or two, she was certain it was actually him. Jughead Jones, in the flesh, was only a handful of feet across from her at the market.  
  
"Jug."  
  
“That’s me,” he said with a clear level of smugness in his tone after crossing the endless stream of people wandering across the outdoor market. He artfully maneuvered himself around strollers and walkers alike that would otherwise inhibit a quick crossing of the wide street.  
  
She only realized she had been holding her breath the second she tried to speak again, and instead of words, a few light gasps escaped before she worked herself up into a violent looking sneeze. A sneeze she knew not even a child would be convinced was authentic.  
  
He laughed, a sound so warm and genuine it immediately conflicted with the physical cold surrounding them both.  
  
"You gonna survive, Cooper?"  
  
She wasn't sure she could say yes when she could hardly deal with him looking at her and giving her any sort of attention.  
  
"Maybe not."  
  
There was so much she wanted to tell him. So much, and all at once. She wasn't sure where to start and the overwhelming burden of it all left her speechless and paralyzed, staring at him with a sense of longing in which she simultaneously hoped he immediately understood and yet didn't notice at all.  
  
His eyes searched hers, deep and probing and she tried her best to thinly veil the emotions gradually coming to the surface.

 

“I-uh, like your hat choice,” he tried, but only managed to get an eye roll out of her.

 

“Polly's choice, but thanks.”

 

A few seconds passed before Betty felt the need to further the small talk she so desperately hated.

 

“I see you are no longer wearing a hat these days.”

 

Jughead frowned, running his hand through his hair that was now lightly dusted with snowflakes.

 

“Yeah, Hotdog mangled it a few years back, so I thought it was best to just adapt.”

 

She returned his frown in sympathy. “My condolences. You look good. Without the hat, I mean. Not that you looked bad with—”

 

“Good to know Betty Cooper still finds me attractive,” he teased, leaving her cheeks rosier than the chilly temperature already had.

 

“Just messing with you, but there is something I actually wanted to ask you,” he started, his posture straightening as he put his hands in the front pockets of his jeans. “Are you going to stick around town after Christmas this year?”

 

“Not entirely sure,” she stated truthfully. “Why do you ask?”

 

“There’s going to be a post-Christmas charity bar crawl and I just wondered if I might see you there.”

 

Betty studied his features carefully, trying to suss out any additional reasoning from his actions, but it seemed the young man in front of her had grown up (or apart) enough that she was no longer able to easily decipher his non-verbal queues.

 

“ _Post_ -Christmas bar crawl, huh?”

 

“Pre-Christmas branding didn’t sit well with the older crowd. Riverdale’s attempting to modernize itself beyond merely gentrifying the Southside.”

 

Betty genuinely laughed for what felt like the first time in years; the sound almost surprising herself, and she knew at once she needed to do whatever it took in order to allow herself to continue to feel something other than apathy as quickly as possible.

 

“So, when is it exactly?”

 

“December 27th, just enough time to not disturb the strictly religious but also not late enough for people to take down their Christmas trees.”

 

“You seem to have some precise details about this bar crawl,” she teased, raising her own brows even though he probably couldn’t see with the hat on.

 

“You’re looking at one of the Co-Chairs of this event, Ms. Cooper,” he said in a matter-of-fact tone that she might have believed if she didn’t already understand his occasional deadpan humor, leading to additional laughter from her.

 

“Are you fibbing, Jughead Jones?”

 

“I guess you’ll just have to come and get me drunk until I tell you the full truth.”

 

Betty finally calmed down from her laughing fit, looking at him again clearly and openly in front of the Christmas Market. While she was fully intending to say yes to attending the bar crawl by that point, the thought of him drinking and telling her his every truth made her mildly apprehensive.

What if, she too, got drunk and told him the truth of how she had actually felt about how things ended between them? What if she told him that she was certain that she had made a mistake, and seeing how wonderfully the years had aged him only further confirmed that fact.

What if he had a girlfriend—or fiance, or baby mama, or what have you—that he actually planned to let her meet that night? Introducing the new love of his life to the girl who broke his heart and let the new things eventually flourish over the old was not exactly her idea of fun.

Betty was certain she was getting too far ahead of herself and figured it was finally time to say, “Alright, I’ll be there,” before waving him goodbye and walking back to the car to wait for Polly’s return some ten minutes later.

She did her best not to replay the way his hair fell into his eye from time to time. Or the way his jawline seemed to have become more defined and the small shadow of stubble that seemed to have replaced the boyish looks he once possessed. But mostly Betty was doing everything she could to deny the fact that for whatever reason, Jughead Jones wanted to be seen near her. And even more perplexing yet, he seemed happy to see her when not even Betty could honestly say she was all that happy with herself anymore.

The car ride home became much more tolerable with something to look forward to on the horizon. Even the 90’s pop diva couldn’t bring down Betty’s mood as Polly sung along between occasionally trying to pry why Betty’s mood seemed to have improved by such a noticeable amount over the course of the last hour.

Betty didn’t want to jinx herself or publicly admit to the fact that for the first time in three years, she was glad to be home for the holidays.

  


**Author's Note:**

> If you feel in your kind heart you would like to provide some sustenance for the writing, I now have a [ko-fi account.](https://ko-fi.com/anawrites) More caffeine = more writing/drawing things! I take requests, too. ;)


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